Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sat Apr 27th Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns Janet Diane and Guy Buchanan. Born on the same day, across the years. The same date when in 1810 Beethoven composed "Für Elise" aka "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor." A day of beauty. Thank you.
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We are a good team but we are going to be an even better team. We are
going to be an even better team because we are going to take some great
South Australians to Canberra. Matt Williams, stand up Matt, a senior
lawyer who is prepared to put that at risk to serve his country. Sue Lawrie, stand up, candidate for Makin, who helped to expose the secret women’s business sham.

UPDATE
I’ve noted already how Abbott’s recent media appearances have been
impressively polished and self-assured. “He’s arrived,” I said.
I’d add today’s rally to the list. An easier ask, true, but Abbott
performed with real verve, unscripted and optimistic. His final words
gave a message I think will resonate:

Our challenge is to build a better nation. Our challenge is to help
unlock the potential that exists in our country and in our state. Our
challenge is to try to ensure that every single Australian is helped,
encouraged, enabled to be the very best self that that person can be. As
I look around this audience I can see optimism, I can see confidence.
Yes, we have got 140 days to go and sometimes those 140 days will drag
on and on and endlessly on but we know things can be better. We know we
can have a government that doesn’t try to divide Australians. We know we
can have a government that doesn’t play the outdated class war card. A
false war if ever there was one in this country. We know we can have a
government which doesn’t try to set people against people with this
class war, with this gender war, with this birthplace war, we know all
that is so wrong because Simon Crean himself has said so. Labor to the
bootstraps and what has he said? He said, ‘the government in which I was
a cabinet Minister is setting Australian against Australian, trying to
start a class war, betraying the best values of the Party I thought I
knew because it is led by someone with a tin ear. It’s led by someone
who is delusional.’ That’s what he said in the paper today. Well, it is
time for a change. It is time for a change. That is what we will deliver
this country. This is the supreme challenge that I face. This is the
supreme challenge that all of us face and I tell you this, we will not
let our country down.

Labor has lured some
1000 people to their deaths by dismantling John Howard’s “cruel” border
laws. Now it’s arguing about who should save those drowning in this
armada of arrivals:

AUSTRALIA’S
maritime rescue authority passed responsibility to Indonesia for two
boat emergencies that resulted in 187 deaths even though Indonesia had a
“limited capacity” to effect sea rescues.
A 2012 federal government document, released under freedom of
information laws, has emerged ... as a record number of
asylum-seekers—2899—have made the dangerous boat journey to Australia
this month alone…
Sydney University associate professor of law Tim Stephens warned
Australian authorities against “going through the motions” in passing
incidents to Indonesia to handle “when they know full well that (the
Indonesians) cannot actually do what they are obliged to do"…
Among summaries of “significant events” in the key issue brief are the
incidents of June 19-21 and August 29-31 last year, during which AMSA
transferred responsibility to Indonesia, but its ineffective responses
were followed by mass drownings.
Australia eventually re-took control of both rescues, 30 hours later in
the June incident in which 92 people drowned between Java and Christmas
Island, and 12 hours later in August when 95 people died about 80km west
of Java. On April 12 this year AMSA passed a report to Basarnas about a
possible sinking in the Sunda Strait in which an estimated 58 people
drowned.

IN the days after a heated 2GB radio interview in March, during which
Julia Gillard was questioned closely about the AWU slush fund scandal, a
detective in Victoria’s Fraud Squad, Ross Mitchell, made a strategic
decision.
One answer the Prime Minister gave during a dogged tussle in her
interview with Ben Fordham stood out. Mitchell knew it when he heard it.
The other detectives knew it too.
Although seemingly innocuous to those not involved in the probe,
Gillard’s answer was new and pivotal. It meant police in Melbourne would
need a sworn statement from Fordham in Sydney, even though as a
journalist he would be expected to subsequently disclose some key facts.
The actions that Mitchell and other police took in seeking further
information from Fordham led to him stating in unequivocal terms on his
radio show this week something that had been previously cryptically and
very carefully inferred - the Prime Minister is under formal Victoria
Police investigation as a result of the 18-year-old Australian Workers
Union fraud…
With questioning so far of witnesses in Queensland, Victoria, NSW and
Western Australia, up to a dozen detectives are particularly interested
in the creation and operation of a union election slush fund,
misleadingly called the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
The entity was set up and formally registered in Perth with the help of
Gillard’s legal advice (as a solicitor at Slater & Gordon) to her
then boyfriend and client, AWU official Bruce Wilson, and his union
sidekick, Ralph Blewitt. The two men allegedly used it as a slush fund
to siphon hundreds of thousands of dollars from Thiess during the
construction company’s development of a major project that required both
labour and industrial peace from AWU members.
Some of the money, which was kept secret from everyone else in the
union, would go into a $230,000 terrace house at 85 Kerr Street,
Fitzroy, bought by Wilson (in Blewitt’s name) at an auction he attended
with Gillard, whose firm would manage the conveyancing… In his only
recent public statements Wilson has backed Gillard, saying she knew
nothing about any wrongdoing…
One of the planks of Blewitt’s story, which 2GB’s Fordham latched on to
in his interview with the Prime Minister in March, concerns a “power of
attorney” document bearing Gillard’s signature as the official witness.
According to Blewitt, it was a false document…
The document permitted Wilson to buy the Fitzroy terrace house (in
Blewitt’s name) at auction. Blewitt, who was living in Perth at the
time, claims it is bogus - that Gillard could not have “witnessed” it as
they were thousands of kilometres apart at the time.
In previous rejections of Blewitt’s claims about this document, the
Prime Minister insisted she always witnessed such documents properly as a
solicitor. But Fordham tells Inquirer that all of Gillard’s previous
answers seemed to avoid declaring outright that she and Blewitt were in
the same room when the power of attorney was witnessed…
Gillard finally confirmed to Fordham that she and Blewitt were in the
room when the document was signed. It is an assertion that could only be
wrong if Victoria Police have evidence placing them on opposite sides
of Australia.

You… can see that money from the slush fund may have been used to
buy a house in Melbourne. Now you attended the auction with your then
boyfriend Bruce Wilson, but the property was purchased in the name of
Ralph Blewitt even though he’d never seen the house. Now in order for
this to be done legally, a power of attorney would need to be signed
allowing ... Bruce to buy the property on Ralph’s behalf.... So, when
this property was purchased on Ralph’s behalf, the law states that you
would have to be present when Ralph Blewitt signed the documents. Ralph
Blewitt claims that you were not present. He claims that Bruce Wilson
flew to Perth to get him to sign the documents and that you signed it at
a different time in a different place. Now you did not fly to Perth to
witness those documents, did you?

JULIA GILLARD:

And I’ve consistently dealt with this too. I properly witness
documents as a lawyer. So you can believe Mr Blewitt or you can believe
me Ben. I’m not overly fussed what you conclude, but I witnessed
documents properly as a lawyer.

BEN FORDHAM:

Ok, if you’ve always obeyed the law in carrying out your duties,
you’d be able to make a statement to police confirming that you’ve never
witnessed one of these documents without the relevant person being
present.

JULIA GILLARD:

Ben, excuse me, that is incredibly offensive and I’m not going to
let it go past. I have done nothing wrong in this matter. I have said
that for 20 years. I will continue to say that, because it is the truth.
Anybody who wants to know anything about this matter from my
perspective has already got the benefits of it being canvassed publicly
and in Parliament over the best part of 20 years. I’ve given full
details and I never did anything wrong and please don’t use forms of
words that imply the contrary.

BEN FORDHAM:

Prime Minister, you and Ralph Blewitt were there together and signed
the documents together – that’s what you’re saying just to confirm?

JULIA GILLARD:

I’ve witnessed documents properly as a lawyer.

BEN FORDHAM:

Yeah, you and Ralph Blewitt were in the room together, you signed them together yes?

JULIA GILLARD:

Look Ben, these documents were of – as a lawyer I witness thousands
of documents, so as a lawyer for eight years I witnessed thousands of
them. I don’t remember each document, but I witnessed documents
properly.

BEN FORDHAM:

And if you always witnessed them properly, then you and Ralph Blewitt were in the room together and signed at the same time.

JULIA GILLARD:

Well absolutely. I witness documents properly.

BEN FORDHAM:

And this one?

JULIA GILLARD:

What’s your point? I witness documents properly.

BEN FORDHAM:

Ok, it just sounds like one of those things Prime Minister where I’m asking about a specific moment whether or not…

JULIA GILLARD:

And over eight years, I can’t sit here on the phone with you and go through every document over eight years as a lawyer.

BEN FORDHAM:

Sure, but it would stand out though.

JULIA GILLARD:

…that this document was of no particular significance at the time
that my practice as a lawyer was to witness documents properly.

BEN FORDHAM:

Yeah, it was of significance, because it was the only time that you
were witnessing a document that involved the purchase of a property that
your then boyfriend was involved in. That’s why it would stand out.

JULIA GILLARD:

But it’s like asking you, can you give me the opening words of an
interview you did three years ago. The matter had no particular
significance at the time. It has the significance now because of how
politically used it’s been. It wasn’t significant then.

As I said at the time:

Note the bit in bold. The audio of it picks up a hesitation that makes
the answer more ambiguous that the transcript suggests. Is Gillard
really for the first time insisting she was in the room with Blewitt to
witness his document, as required by law? Or is she saying, absolutely
she witness documents properly - a more general assertion?

In an interview with Inquirer, the University of Melbourne’s Ross
Garnaut, China specialist and former adviser to Bob Hawke, says: “If we
continue with the current economic policy settings and current
mentality, then a recession is very likely and the economy may kick
along the bottom for a long while...”
Current reports that both Labor and Liberal now admit the reality of
budget deficits barely scrape the surface of the new politics required…
The economic convulsion Garnaut sees arises not from the end of China’s
growth but the demise of its particular resources boom that dramatically
boosted Australia’s national income....
“...This will be a hit to the Australian economy that we have not experienced in modern times.”

The spectacular growth in export volumes and prices of the post-2009
period have cemented an assumption that this is the “new normal”.
But it is a very uncertain stability that requires Chinese demand to keep growing at extraordinary rates.
China doesn’t have to sneeze for us to catch cold. It merely has to have the slightest sniffle. And if it does sneeze?

UPDATE
I’d rather talk first about spending cuts before discussing tax rises. But there is no doubt we’re in strife:

Australia’s
longest-serving finance minister, Liberal Nick Minchin, said the
federal government had to look at increasing the GST rate or broadening
its base in the next decade to deal with a long run of budget deficits that will make the central bank’s job tougher.
Mr Minchin, who was one of the architects of the 10?per cent GST, also
said spending should be cut as part of a five to ten year medium-term
fiscal strategy to deal with “huge” structural problems and a looming
funding crisis.
“The GST, in terms of its rate and its scope, will have to be revisited
in the medium term,” Mr Minchin told the AFR Weekend on Friday. “It’s
unavoidable in terms of a revenue side and a consumption tax is the best
way to address the revenue problem.”
Mr Minchin said the fiscal outlook was at a “critical” level, and the
aid budget and health expenditure needed to be urgently reviewed.

The most interesting thing about Simon Crean’s story today
- of having for months contemplated the March leadership spill against
Gillard - is that he’s telling it. Still stirring that pot:

Twenty-four hours after Kevin Rudd squibbed the caucus ballot, the
former prime minister said the “spontaneous combustion” of Mr Crean’s
call for a spill had “caught many of us off guard”.
Yet ... Mr Crean reveals how he first held talks with Mr Rudd late last
year before a series of “one-on-one” meetings early this year to test
whether the former prime minister was ready for a more inclusive style
of leadership…
After consulting his closest confidants and ministerial allies, he began dealing with Mr Rudd’s loyal lieutenants in earnest.

More Crean revelations - significant only in that he’s making them:

“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy,” laments a Rudd
supporter of Crean’s visit to Ms Gillard’s prime ministerial sanctum on
that Wednesday evening.
“I wanted to have the honest discussion,” Mr Crean said of his candid
appeal to the Prime Minister, during which he catalogued the political
unrest he felt she’d brought upon herself.
“I said: ‘You just can’t blame it on destabilisation, you’ve got to look
at your own contribution to this. It had to be resolved one way or
another.’ It had to be called on.”
She was defiant. She said to me: ‘I’m not going to do it. If he’s going to challenge, let him do it.’”
The Prime Minister began phoning MPs that night to shore up her
position. When Mr Crean went public, she sacked him promptly, then
sprung the ballot on an unsuspecting caucus.

And Martin Ferguson, who quit as Minister after the attempted spill
failed, makes a rare public comment on Gillard’s sacking of Crean:

When I ask Crean what he thinks of Gillard, the pause that follows is so
long and painful I buckle eventually and allow him to speak off the
record. His measured language picks apart her performance. Vitriol and
personal denigration are not his style but he doesn’t cut Rudd any
slack. “Spineless,” he says of the former PM’s failure to stand in the
leadership spill. “Delusional?” I suggest. “In many ways both of them
are, for different reasons,” Crean reflects.

There is stirring among Labor…
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)

Shortly after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, a fellow reporter
who’d covered President George W. Bush all eight years told me she’d had
enough of the travel and stress and strain of the White House beat,
that she was moving on…
I asked her if she’d miss covering President Obama.
“Not at all. He’s an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep,
mysterious, emotional, profound man. Obama is all surface — shallow,
obvious, robotic, and, frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush
was the one.”
...By the way, she’s a hardcore Democrat.
But she was right. And that contrast was apparent to all who watched
Thursday’s ceremonial event to open W’s new presidential library in
Dallas....
Jimmy Carter ... was first to speak. But he was, as always, befuddled.
...he opened with, “In 2000, as some of you may remember, there was a
disputed election for several weeks.” Nice way to start. He then took
credit for giving W the idea to intercede in Sudan… He never mentioned
9-11 and the war on terror, or the commander in chief’s leadership
during America’s most trying hour. Which is why his comments lasted just
3¼ minutes.
Bill Clinton followed. He, of course, spoke twice as long, filling his
speech with jokes and faux humility. He was his usual affable self…
But… Mr. Clinton, for all his prodigious gifts, will always be the class
clown…
George H.W. Bush, turning 90 in June, was a welcome respite. Somewhat
frail now, he spoke only briefly from his wheelchair, but garnered two
standing ovations — and the biggest laugh of the day from his oldest
son. After his remarks, just 24 seconds, he shook his boy’s hand and
said, deadpan, “Too long?”
President Obama took the podium next. Every bit as cunning as Slick
Willy, his speech too was filled with fake self-effacing insights,
including one on “the world’s most exclusive club,” which he said “is
more like a support group."… Then, on a day that was intended to be
without politics, he hawked his push for amnesty…
Mr. Obama skipped the praise he had laid on W the night before.
“Whatever our political differences, President Bush loves this country
and loves its people and shares that same concern and was concerned
about all people in America, not just those who voted Republican. I
think that’s true about him, and I think that’s true about most of us.”
Except it’s not. Especially not this president. He has made his
presidency about dividing America — along lines of class, sex, race,
sexuality, you name it…
Then, finally, W took the podium.... He gave a profound lesson to his
successor and his predecessor: “In democracy, the purpose of public
office is not to fulfill personal ambition. Elected officials must serve
a cause greater than themselves…
“As president, I tried to act on these principles every day. It wasn’t
always easy and it certainly wasn’t always popular … And when our
freedom came under attack, we made the tough decisions required to keep
the American people safe,” he said to loud applause.
But it was the end that gave us the truest glimpse of the man… With
tears in his eyes, his voice breaking, he said: “It’s the honor of a
lifetime to lead a country as brave and as noble as the United
States....” By the end he was in tears, barely able to creak out: “God
bless.”..
But there was one last classy move not many saw. The program nearly
over, Sgt. 1st Class Alvy R. Powell Jr. came to the side of the stage to
perform the “Star Spangled Banner.” A big, powerful black man, Mr.
Powell belted out the anthem. With the crowd applauding, the sergeant
moved along the line of people, shaking hands with all. After greeting
W, he turned to go. But the 43rd president put his hand on the
sergeant’s arm and said, “Stay,” just as a chaplain stepped forward to
give a benediction.

UPDATE
Peggy Noonan saw the same ceremony
and is more gracious to Carter ("gracious and humorous") and Clinton
("generous to others” and “funny"). But on Obama she is agreed:

This week something changed. George W. Bush is back, for the unveiling
of his presidential library. His numbers are dramatically up. You know
why? Because he’s the farthest thing from Barack Obama.
Obama fatigue has opened the way to Bush affection.

In all his recent interviews Mr. Bush has been modest, humorous, proud
but unassuming, and essentially philosophical: History will decide. No
finger-pointing or scoring points. If he feels rancor or resentment he
didn’t show it. He didn’t attempt to manipulate. His sheer normality
seemed like a relief, an echo of an older age.
And all this felt like an antidote to Obama—to the imperious I, to the
inability to execute, to the endless interviews and the imperturbable
drone, to the sense that he is trying to teach us, like an Ivy League
instructor taken aback by the backwardness of his students. And there’s
the unconscious superiority…
Here’s a hunch: The day of the opening of the Bush library was the day
Obama fatigue became apparent as a fact of America’s political life.
When Bush left office, his approval rating was down in the 20s to low
30s. Now it’s at 47%, which is what Obama’s is. That is amazing, and not
sufficiently appreciated…
The headline of the Bush Library remarks is that everyone was older and
nicer… (But) President Obama was more formal than the other speakers and
less confident than usual, as if he knew he was surrounded by people
who have something he doesn’t… He veered into current policy disputes,
using Mr. Bush’s failed comprehensive immigration reform to buttress his
own effort. That was manipulative, graceless and typical.

Rebecca Wilson says some evidence will come out next week to justify some of the smear in February of Australian sport.
Let’s see if it matches the claims that sport - with the AFL, NRL, rugby
union, cricket and soccer presented on stage - was riddled with
widespread taking of illicit drugs, matchfixing and links to organised
crime.
Wilson:

I have been an extremely vocal critic of the Australian Crime Commission
and the investigation into alleged systemic doping in professional
football.
There is little doubt that elements of the investigation have been
marred by the media conference at which senior government ministers and
ACC personnel claimed they had uncovered widespread doping, possible
match-fixing and the involvement of organised crime in professional
football in Australia…
Now, however, the chickens are coming home to roost.
Next week will see more facts uncovered in what is becoming Australia’s biggest doping investigation.
The independent report compiled by senior counsel Trish Kavanagh [on the
Cronulla club] underlines her and independent oncologists’ deep
concerns about the possible causal link between peptides and the
acceleration of Jon Mannah’s cancer…
This week, I have been blown away by the level of information I have
received from various credible sources which vindicates to a large
extent the original stand taken by the ACC.
That information leaves very little doubt that the use of peptides has
been uncovered at the Cronulla rugby league club and led to the
compilation of a damning independent report by the club which is now in
the hands of the NRL, ASADA and NSW Police.
Legal constraints mean that a large portion of the evidence cannot yet
be published. Suffice to say that what will unfold in coming weeks will
be damning for Cronulla and, almost certainly, the Essendon AFL club…
[Cronulla] sources believe more than a dozen players are implicated along with coaching staff and others involved at the club.

I have no reason to doubt Wilson. But even on this account, contested
allegations against one NRL club, and also Essendon, with players yet to
be interviewed, do not to me go anywhere near justifying the original
press conference.
Evidence first, then allegations.

Our commitment to return the budget to surplus in 2012-13 is even more
important in the environment that we’ve got in Europe. We’re seeing the
consequences of lax fiscal policy in many of those countries with the
sovereign debt problems and the flowthrough effects there to the banking
system. It’s very important, it’s very important that we demonstrate to
the world our record of fiscal discipline which has been second to none
over the past four years of this government.

IT’S in the interests of families right around the nation that we bring
the budget to surplus; there couldn’t be anything more in their
interest.
If we look at the world that we live in now, this post-global financial
crisis world, there has never been more punishment meted out to
countries that don’t meet their fiscal targets than there is today.

Australia’s economy is moving back towards trend growth, we have
relatively low unemployment and we are experiencing a once in a
generation investment boom.
Given these strengths, returning the budget to surplus is the right thing to do…
A surplus positions the nation well in the face of global uncertainty
and sends a strong message of confidence to investors both domestically
and overseas.

This year the Gillard Government says we must not reach a surplus this year - or else:

When expenditure in an economy is savagely slashed, aggregate demand
is suppressed and unemployment rocks up, and ultimately savings in the
economy (including the budget position) deteriorate, and in the long run
we are all poorer.

When you’ve got that kind of problem with the amount of money coming in
you can do one of two things. You can say well, we’ll keep cutting and
cutting and cutting and cutting on the expenditure side, which would
really hurt people, or you can take the approach that we’re taking and
say well, you know, the revenue coming in will recover over time… We’ve
got to keep our economy strong. Cutting and cutting and cutting wouldn’t
help our economy stay strong. It would hurt people.

The ABC Charter requires the broadcasting of programs that contribute
to a sense of national identity and reflect the cultural diversity of
the Australian community. ABC Editorial Policies support the diversity
of perspectives.
The ABC Values include respect and collegiality and the reference to embrace diversity.

But, oddly enough, that commitment to diversity - and that requirement
to “reflect the cultural diversity of the Australian community” - seems
to have been completely overlooked when appointing the presenters of the
ABC’s main news and current affairs shows, every one of whom is of the
Left.
The ABC now has a perfect chance to prove it really does embrace
diversity by appointing its first ever non-Leftist to host Media Watch.
So far, every one of the seven presenters in the show’s history has been
of the Left - Stuart Littlemore, Richard Ackland, Paul Barry, David
Marr, Liz Jackson, Monica Attard and Jonathan Holmes. That monpoly -
that monoculture - is astonishing, undeniable and inexcusable.
But now the ABC can finally redress this embarrassing breach of its own standards and requirements. Holmes is said to be resigning at the end of next month.
Will the ABC do the right thing? Or will it appoint its eighth straight Leftist?
The answer seems obvious.
UPDATE
Reader janama:

My recommendation is Jean Kitson. She’s part of the lefty clicque in the
ABC, a regular on Thank God it’s Friday yet deep down there is a
conservative carefully treading on thin ice.
For example, last night on TGIF on 702 she was asked for the winners and
losers of the week. She nominated Barry O’Farrell as loser of the week
for falling for Julia’s Gonski funding trick and nominated Julia Gillard
as winner of the week for finding a once in a lifetime mug like Barry
O’Farrell. Hardly the views of a lefty.
She is smart, quickwitted and well informed on current politics. No,
she’s not a journalist but maybe that’s a good thing for the head of
Media Watch.

"A thing that looks like a Police Box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?" - Ian Chesterton, 1963

In the build up to Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS on Saturday, I've decided to make a trailer that summarises the "need-to-know" aspects of the Doctor's wonderful time machine whilst also celebrating the many memories associated with it.

I hope you enjoy,

Dom :D

Like Doctor Who? Of course you do, and if you haven't already come and join in with all things who over on Facebook at:www.facebook.com/The.Doctor.Who.Tardis

CLIPS COPYRIGHT TO THE BBC NO INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.MUSIC COPYRIGHT IMMEDIATE MUSIC.TARDIS IMAGE TRADEMARKED BY THE BBC.
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I'm holding a candle 4 her
===Still a better love story than twilight
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There is always one
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Spanish national anthem has no lyrics .. and so crosses language barriers
==="I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe." Smith Wigglesworth
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But beer. It has lots of beer
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===Last night's full moon started out pink and quickly transitioned to yellow once it cleared a cloud layer. I accidentally caught it in both colors at the same time.

And the first person who says this is photoshopped gets bopped on the head because 1) I suck at Photoshop, and 2) Seriously, I suck at Photoshop.
===

===Want to know how The Bible Series was able to achieve such amazing visual effects? Check out the exclusive featurette on your DVD or BluRay!http://bit.ly/Yrs9Ap
===
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===Frank and John
===A new "nanosponge" could soak up toxins ranging from anthrax to snake venom by camouflaging as a red blood cell, new research suggests.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/4ew2

Here, a cross section of nanosponge that may be able to protect against infections and venoms.
===Frank Sinatra – Old Man River- Music Video -

At this link:http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/frank-sinatra-man-river/
===LORD, You Alone are my portion and my cup; You make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will Praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes Always on the LORD. With Him at my right hand, I will Not be shaken. -Psalm 16:5-8
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===The hockey stick model has been one of the main targets of climate skeptics, however, a string of subsequent studies by a number of scientific groups from around the world have all yielded essentially the same result.

Most recently, a paper co-authored by 78 experts from 60 scientific institutions found yet another hockey stick, explains Anne-Marie Blackburn, expert on environmental policy, and environmental scientist Dana Nuccitelli, in this op-ed article: http://oak.ctx.ly/r/4eu4It is their continued lies which discredit them most. But to be fair, I still publish the liars who spruik AGW - ed
===HISTORY IN THE HEADLINES: A rare binary star system has put Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity to its most challenging test to date.http://histv.co/Y2xvSc
===
===Film Clip of the Day - April 24, 2013Frank Sinatra Palm Springs Golf – Hollywood Backstage

Clive Palmer’s antics prove you don’t need to be smart to be rich. Australia’s mining boom fortuitously threw up some odd characters and Palmer is by far the oddest, so what’s behind his ill-fated new political party? Actually a severe case of frustration.

There are certain things money can’t buy, one is humility, another is a brain in good working order. Palmer is bereft of both.

Chucking copious amounts of lucre at major political parties may work for union bosses but apparently not for Palmer and his lost benefactor, the Coalition.

They, understandably, have had a gutful of him and now he wants revenge.

He is not politically naive enough to actually believe he can get his “United Australia Party” to the blocks and contesting Federal seats before September.

He could strike it lucky and flum a Qld Senate seat, but any bastard can do that. Just look at who warms the red benches now.

This latest stunt from the spoilt dinosaur boy is all about having donated millions to the conservatives without receiving anything but a condescending grin in return.

Palmer’s intention is to split the conservative vote and fragment preferences out of spite. That’s about the most he can achieve, even Clive should know that.

The media is content to waste time feeding a grossly inflated ego rather than report on a small matter of an Australian Prime minister seeking re-election while under investigation by a major fraud squad.

Oh well, them’s media priorities.

Anyway Clive, for Christ’s sake get over it! You present as a grossly overweight knob with a small dick complex who craves attention.

Want to prove otherwise, Clive?I think the image is wide of the mark. One of the successes of the Howard government was that its ministers held diverse views and could test them publicly .. So both Turnbull and Howard could be in the same government but have opposing views on Monarchy. In this case I feel that Palmer is attracting those who would normally vote ALP, but don't wish to vote Lib. Naturally the media wish to portray it as division among the Libs .. - ed
===Looks like King Nebuchadnezzar's statue reinflated in Hinchinbrook. (See below traffic light) Teresa L
===There are two kinds of evil people....People who do evil stuff,and people who see evil stuff being done and don't try to stop it. - Holly
===Must-See Video: "I will never forgive you, and I will never come home, ever! I will use drugs until I overdose and am dead. And then you’ll feel bad, won’t you?" http://bit.ly/DRP042613Vid
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4 her
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===MAKING IT EASY FOR THE TERRORIST - Larry Pickering

There’s nothing more tragi-comical than 50 excited US cop cars, with sirens screaming, chasing one enterprising miscreant down an eight-lane highway.

Boston cops, in league with the FBI and many other conflicting law agencies, were just as comically keystone in their hunt for injured bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. After cordoning off an area in which they knew he was hiding, they instructed all residents to remain inside their homes for their own safety.

Yet residents’ safety suddenly became unimportant after they failed to find him and an order was made for residents and go about their normal business. Why?

Well, because the endangered residents were now being asked to do what the cops couldn’t do... find him!

And sure enough, within an hour, the suspect was located at risk to an aged resident.

As we now know, he was hiding, well-armed, in the homeowner’s boat that, according to the FBI, had already been searched. Mmmm.

Whether or not a boat is an obvious hiding place, is not the point. It seems not one agency knew of what any other agency was doing.

Cops were too busy backslapping each other and raiding non-related homes to check their own damn records while conducting a massive world-wide media blitz of photos of the two brothers already on their suspected terrorist List. Amazing!

Ominous Russian reports that older brother Tameran may have been radicalised in a Chechen mosque incredibly were sloppily dismissed after the FBI interviewed the budding terrorist.

This bloke was already in the system somewhere yet no-one bothered to look.

A spokeswoman for the ‘Boston Police Department’ said the ‘Boston Regional Intelligence Center’ was never even notified about the original FBI investigation prompted by Russian advice. Wow! Even more amazing!

David Procopio, the spokesman for the ‘Massachusetts State Police’, which oversees the ‘Fusion Center’, said the FBI didn’t share the information with other anti-terror centres.

He said, “Even if the FBI had informed the ‘Fusion Center’ of its inquiry, State officials would probably not have put Tsarnaev under any additional scrutiny”.

Procopio added, “... because the FBI had decided he did not pose a threat. We were not privy to the tip”.

That’s about six agencies on the job so far while ‘The Office of Homeland Security’ was busy in the Pentagon with their coffee percolators.

Other anti-terrorism intelligence units in Massachusetts were not even aware that FBI agents had previously investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s jihad ties.

A spokeswoman for the ‘Boston Police Department’ said the ‘Boston Regional Intelligence Center’ also was never notified of the FBI investigation.

The Boston Globe reported: “As evidence of poor co-ordination and sharing of information among key security agencies continues to build, the White House has launched an internal investigation into the handling of the Tsarnaev case and will focus on weaknesses in the nation’s system of tracking suspected terrorists.”

The FBI is now claiming that State and local officials had open access to information about the Tsarnaev investigation through their participation in a Boston FBI unit called the ‘Joint Terrorism Task Force’. WTF!

Perhaps another security agency can be set up to co-ordinate all the other security agencies.

But there are good lessons for we Aussies in this US security debacle.

Australia has no fewer than five separate security agencies and none talks to another in a highly dangerous game of competitive ineptitude.

As I suggested in a previous article about what should be one of Abbott’s many cost-cutting opportunities, our bumbling security agencies must be merged, shedding hundreds of unneeded Public Servants.

At the same time we could give Aussies a modicum of protection from the many jihadist cells so obviously now in our midst, courtesy of this Labor Government.
===A recently excavated plaza and pyramid, which would have likely served as a solar observatory for rituals, is the oldest ancient Maya ceremonial compound ever discovered in the Central American lowlands and dates back 200 years before similar sites pop up elsewhere in the region, archaeologists announced yesterday (April 25). http://oak.ctx.ly/r/4dwf
===WILL ABBOTT BE A DUD? Larry Pickering

According to many posters on this site Abbott will be just a bad as Gillard. They may well be right, but who knows? Nobody knows.

It’s difficult to judge from his position in Opposition because his job is to oppose, and not much more.He is certainly politically adept but will need the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon to navigate his way around a Conservative Party with a massive majority.

His stoicism and ability to hold the party line under pressure is impressive. Yet Opposition leaders don’t make many mistakes... they don’t do anything!

Some skilful advisers have paved the way for him in Opposition but that won’t be sufficient for him to succeed at the coal face in government.

The tag I have as a vile, right-wing, misogynistic redneck nut job is indicative of just how bad PM Gillard actually is.

I will fully deserve the tag of left-wing, commo, Labor, pinko if Abbott approaches Gillard’s level of incompetence.

My guess is he won’t, but I’ve been wrong before.

Tony Abbott isn’t my sort of bloke but that’s a problem for me, not him.

He has a pre-programmed, robotic style that drains whatever personality he has but post Gillard, let’s face it, even Clive Palmer could look acceptable.

But there is one thing he must do to retain credibility (and I know I have harped on this before) he needs to dump his ill-advised 6-month parental leave nonsense.

That's six months' leave at full replacement wage, capped at $75,000 for six months.

It’s totally unaffordable and belongs in better times and with successive surpluses.

The suffocating weight of the NDIS (now named Disability Care Australia) the NBN, Gonski, Carers Recognition, Dental Scheme and array of other “initiatives” Gillard has left for Abbott to deal with puts his Parental Leave firmly in the trash can for now.

One and a half years of paid parental leave would be a devastating impost on struggling small businesses.

If implemented, the policy, which is a blatant attempt to pander to the women who had deserted him, will also severely disenfranchise those same women in the workforce.

The very thought of ripe ovaries would be enough to turn employers white.

How could an employer keep a position open for 6 months? That’s far too long for a temp, so someone would have to fill that vacant permanent position leaving the employer in a quandary in 18 months’ time.

Okay, it would be subsidised, costing billions we don’t have, but a period of 18 months is so much of an overreach that any female even considering pregnancy would target the employment that would serve her best.

Mmmm, so you think a prospective employer wouldn’t see that coming, eh?

The nomenclature was originally paid “Maternal" Leave, it was changed to the non-sexist “parental" benefit but let’s be realistic, what would be the percentage of men taking paid paternal leave?

Three per cent maybe? And they would be gay male adoptive “parents”.

So, if I was an employer I would certainly steer clear of all women of child-bearing age, as would all employers, and on a purely economic basis only.

Abbott should U-turn on this one soon or risk his own private Carbon Tax backflip later.

Prospective mums should be careful what they wish for... and so should Tony Abbott.
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===Celebrating with the A League Champions at the Mariners civic reception on the Central Coast today. It was fantastic to see the huge crowd that turned out today to support the team. Best of luck to the players in their continuing campaign in the Asian Champions League.
===animal story!!During a California wildfire rescue workers ran out of crates to place rescued animals, forcing them to put a fawn and a bobcat kitten in an office together. When they got back they found that fawn and the bobcat cuddling and the pair became inseparable.

At this link:http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/marty-robbins-native-land/
===With Andrew Rohan MP, Clr Ken Yeung and Ece Hasan and Gary Young from Fairfield Police at the Bandaged Bear fundraising tonight. — atBonnyrigg Sports Club.
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===Nice undies pal... #interesting #lol #filming #new #tv #Show #TheClubhouse #BradFitler #superheroes #WillMcCoy
===You are abundantly blessed because you have peace with God and the peace of God! Check out more in today's devotional and be blessed! http://bit.ly/11ps0OF
===The righteousness of faith speaks. So say "I am righteous in Christ! God's favor, wisdom and good success are mine today!"
===This week's audio and video podcasts are now available! Subscribe to or download Joseph Prince's podcasts today!http://www.josephprince.org/podcast/
===Check out today's devotional to find out why you can live the abundant life that Jesus came to give you! Be blessed!http://bit.ly/10ylVwt
===And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you…—Deut 28:2

Rejoice! God doesn’t just say that He wants to bless you. He says in His Word that His blessings will come upon you and overtake you!

In the Hebrew, the words God used are even stronger—His blessings will chase you down! That means you can’t run fast enough to escape them.

And the best news of all is: You don’t have to do anything to qualify for these blessings. Someone else has done all the work and paid the price for you to enjoy them—His name is Jesus.

So simply thank Him and receive every blessing that is yours today because of His finished work on the cross! http://josephprince.com/
===

Friend,

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

-- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

We live in the greatest country in the world because of those words.

Had our founding fathers not realized the vast importance of those words, I wouldn't have given the speech I gave Wednesday at Grosse Pointe South High School in Michigan.

Our First Amendment is first for a reason. The right to choose your religion, to peaceably speak your mind, the right to a free press - those are the virtues that brought people from all over the world here.

When I spoke in Michigan, I talked about our First Amendment rights and why we must all work hard to protect them. I hope you'll watch my remarks HERE.

During my campaign for president, I almost always carried around a pocket Constitution so that I could talk about how this relatively short document provides us with such tremendous freedoms and rights.

1941 – World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as "National Democrats") and a group of progressive intellectuals establish the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People.

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About Me

I'm author of History in a Year by the Conservative Voice aka History of the World in a Year by the Conservative Voice.

I'm the Conservative Voice.

I'm looking to make contact with those who might use my skill.

I have an m-audio mobile pre amp fed by the audiotechnica 2041sp condensor mic pack. Prior to 15/4/06, I'd used a Shure sm-58 that required a nuclear blast to register a sound or the internal mic of my aged imac, which has a penchance to recording my breathing. I also used a Griffin itrip, until the community convinced me it was not hiding my talent as well as the other mics.

I am a Writer and an occasional Math Teacher (Sir, what's the occasion?). I like to sing, having no instrumental talent (cannot even clap in time, and yes, I'm aware singing badly IS obnoxious).

I have performed the finale to Les Miserables before an audience of 500. I have also sung before a similar audience (students, parents) renditions of 'I Will' (Beatles), 'Mr Cairo' (Jon Vangelis) and 'I am Australian' (Seekers). Now I seek another profession because the audience hates me ..